Coleman Brings Convenient Drip-Brewed Coffee to Camp

Campers who look forward to that morning “cuppa joe” can now wake up to an easier way to brew camp coffee. In answer to a strong consumer preference for the ease, convenience and taste of drip-brewed coffee, Coleman makes history by introducing the world’s first automatic drip coffeemaker made especially for camping.

Unlike the percolator or other traditional campsite options, the new Coleman Camping Coffeemaker makes it possible to drip-brew coffee at camp just like at home – except no electricity is needed. Designed for use with any two- or three-burner camp stove, the Camping Coffeemaker enables campers to consistently brew a delicious pot of coffee with very little time or effort.

Operation of the coffeemaker is simple. First, place the steel platform directly on top of the stove burner. Then – just like at home – add water to the reservoir in the back of the coffeemaker, place a paper filter in the swing-out basket and add coffee grounds. Light the stove, then sit back and relax.

Within minutes, freshly brewed coffee drips into the glass carafe. For those who can’t wait, the handy pause-and-serve feature makes it possible to pour a quick cup before the entire pot is finished brewing.

With the burner on high, brewing a full 10 cups of coffee takes approximately 10 minutes, which is comparable to the time it takes at home. After brewing is complete, the burner should be turned off or switched to the lowest possible setting, to avoid overheating.

Design Ensures Great Coffee
Other than its non-electric power source, the Camping Coffeemaker works just like its electric counterpart. As the stove burner warms up, the coffeemaker heats the water in the reservoir until it begins to vaporize. The vaporizing action pushes the remaining heated water upward to the diffuser head, which sprinkles the hot water over the coffee grounds in the filter.

One of the basic tenets for brewing great-tasting coffee is that the water should be heated to between 190 and 200 degrees Fahrenheit, or just below boiling. This temperature ensures that the water is hot enough to extract the good flavor from the grounds, but not so hot that it “over-extracts” and makes the coffee bitter. The Coleman Camping Coffeemaker’s special design keeps the water at just the right temperature no matter what kind of two- or three-burner stove is used.

More than a Coffeemaker
As a bonus feature, the Camping Coffeemaker can be used to make a variety of hot drinks such as cocoa and cider, as well as instant hot foods such as soup and oatmeal. Just fill the reservoir with the proper amount of water for whatever is being made, pour the powdered drink, soup mix or oatmeal into the decanter, then light the stove and come back in a few minutes for the finished product.

Consumers Prefer Drip-Brew Method
Until now, options for camp coffee making – aside from the instant variety – have been limited mostly to percolators or open pots. Open-pot coffee, also known as cowboy coffee or campfire coffee, calls for bringing a pot of water to boil, removing the pot from the heat, adding the coffee, waiting for the grounds to settle, then very carefully scooping out a cup of coffee so as to avoid stirring up the grounds. Other methods in use, although not enjoying widespread popularity with the camping crowd, include manual single-cup filters or French presses.

Each of the existing options has its drawbacks, but chief among them is that most people aren’t accustomed to making their coffee that way. The vast majority of people in the United States use an automatic drip-brewer at home, which – unless they have electrical power at their campsite – has never before been an option while camping.

Automatic coffeemakers have grown in popularity during the past three decades, displacing the percolator as the coffeemaker of choice in American homes.* According to the January 2002 issue of Appliance Magazine, drip coffeemakers outsell percolators 10-to-one in the U.S. houseware market. As a result of this trend, fewer and fewer people – especially those under the age of 50 – know how to properly prepare coffee in a percolator.

Common mistakes that affect the quality and taste of percolated coffee include boiling some of the coffee during the brewing process, letting some of the already brewed coffee pass back over the grounds, and allowing grounds to filter down into the coffee.

The Coleman Camping Coffeemaker eliminates those mistakes. The coffeemaker’s design ensures that the ideal water temperature is used to brew the coffee, preventing over- or under-extraction of the grounds. Even with the stove on high, the coffeemaker will not boil the coffee, and the brewed coffee never passes back over the grounds. Use of a paper filter keeps the grounds from ending up in the coffee and allows for easy disposal.

In addition, cleanup time is minimal with the Coleman Camping Coffeemaker, providing another big advantage over other methods of making camp coffee.

Product Highlights

• The Coleman Camping Coffeemaker is the world’s first automatic drip coffeemaker made especially for camping. It will be available in the United States beginning in January 2003 at outdoor retailers, mass merchants and other retailers that carry Coleman products.
• Patented solid steel base fits on any two- or three-burner camp stove and still leaves room for cooking on the other one or two burners.
• Pause-and-serve feature allows a cup of coffee to be poured during the brew cycle, without causing a mess.
• Water reservoir has large opening for easy filling.
• Removable swing-out filter basket pops off easily for filling and cleaning, and it accommodates all brands of 8- to 12-cup basket-style paper filters.
• Large 10-cup decanter has wide mouth for easy pouring and is made of glass for easy viewing of contents, a feature valued by consumers. The decanter is easy to protect with careful packing and storage, as generations of campers have done with their glass-globed Coleman lanterns. (If it does break, however, the decanter can be easily replaced – either with a Coleman version or with any 10-cup glass decanter used in a standard household drip coffeemaker.)
• Coffeemaker does double-duty, making coffee as well as other hot beverages and instant foods such as soup and oatmeal.
• Suggested retail $39.99.

Reader Reviews

Reviewer Date Posted Grade jarjar 4/11/03 sgtyogi 7/1/03 sgtyogi 7/1/03 Cecil Litle 9/9/04 seafinder 10/5/04